


The Carly Catto Protection Squad

by Cyane (orphan_account)



Category: Backstage (TV 2016)
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Anorexia, Austin is an Asshole, Dancing, Depression, Eating Disorders, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Friendship, Non-Consensual Kissing, Self Confidence Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-07 20:03:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8814400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Cyane
Summary: Carly's new boyfriend Austin is no good.It's a good thing she has people looking out for her, even if she doesn't know it.
  Discontinued.





	1. Coffee, Primas, and Meetups

"Quad grande, extra hot, two sugar, no foam latte, at your service," Sasha said, handing Carly the Starbucks and taking a bow. "Sasha Roy always finds the time to treat the princess of the Primas."

Carly laughed and took a grateful sip. "Thanks Sasha. I don't know what I'd do without... this coffee." 

The taller boy gasped in mock-offense. "Rude!"

They continued down the hall until the dance room came up. "I've got practice with the Primas until five..." Carly said. "Can you go meet up with Vee and tell her I can see you guys later tonight, okay?" Sasha sighed but nodded. "We'll be at Vanessa's house if you can come over afterwards. Make sure Cassandra doesn't kill you."

"I doubt I have a choice in the matter," Carly admitted, throwing her empty-cup into the garbage and waving goodbye as she stepped into the dance room.

Once inside, Cassandra was already warming up, but it didn't look like anyone else had gotten there. That was lucky- Cassandra had complimented her a week ago on the fact that she was always early to rehearsals, and from that point on Carly made sure to always be earlier than anyone other than Cassandra herself.

That girl was scary.

She set down her bag and got out two plastic water bottles with the green juice inside. Carly always brought three bottles: her green juice, Cassandra's green juice, and her own water bottle. She picked up the one she had carefully labeled 'Cassandra'- in her best handwriting- and took it over to the other girl.

"Green juice," Carly said.

"I can see that," Cassandra replied dryly. "...good job, recruit. Get your shoes on and warm up before everyone else gets here."

Carly nodded quickly and went to change into her pointe shoes. Her ankle was hurting a bit from the last rehearsal, since it had gotten a little twisted, but she could deal. Hell, once Vanessa had broken her own ankle out of sheer determination; Carly could handle a little pain.

Once all the other Primas had arrived- with the exception of Macy- Cassandra called them to start. 

"We're Primas," Cassandra snapped as soon as they all gathered around. "And the last performance was way below what we should be doing. Got it?"

Everyone fearfully nodded although Carly personally thought that the last performance had been one of the Primas best in the semester. Cassandra continued, folding her arms and glaring at the gathering of dancers. "This semester we have to actually do well. There will be people rating us and give us chances of going to nationals, and to add to the pressure, the Primas of Keaton have a twenty-five year streak of winning. So don't mess up."

Carly swallowed. No pressure, right?

"Now get stretching," Casandra finished, turning to drink more green juice. Everyone stood up and went to the bar to stretch. Carly was slower to stand as she had already finished stretching, but then she noticed Austin standing on the sidelines, his camera aimed directly at her.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked, although she felt her heart flutter at the sight of him. Things were still a tiny bit awkward with Sasha and a tiny lot bit awkward with Vanessa and therefore the only person Carly really had to talk about her feelings with was Austin. 

Austin smirked behind the camera. "Aren't you supposed to be stretching?"

"Stressing, more like it. We've got the nationals coming up, and pressure is on."

"Catto!" Cassandra snapped from the bar. "Eyes forward!" 

Carly ducked her head and turned away. That was so unprofessional. She took back every word she said about Cassandra complimenting her and growing to like her- now Carly would be on her bad side for a week, at least. 

"From the top!" Cassandra crowed. Carly sighed and got into formation. This would be a long, long practice. 

\--

"Good work today, Catto. But don't you _dare_ let your personal life get in the way. Dancing will always come before boys, you got that?"

Carly nodded. "I won't let anything get in the way of dancing."

Cassandra gave her a long look before smiling wryly. "Good. See you tomorrow."

As soon as the Prima mentor walked away, Carly gave a sigh of relief and started taking off her pointe shoes. It was 5:09, and if she hurried she could make it to meet up with Vanessa and Sasha by five-thirty. She swung her bag around her shoulders and started walking out of the school. 

"Hey, suds!" 

Carly turned around, feeling her heart rate immediately quicken. It was Austin, once again, waiting for her outside of school with a camera in hand. He had some weird obsession with filming her or _something_.

"Hey, Austin." 

He blinked. "You ready?"

Carly frowned. "For what?"

"I thought we were getting together tonight? You said you would help me with my film project." Austin looked so sincere. But Carly had no memory of agreeing to do anything with him tonight. Besides, she had to meet up with Vee and Sasha. She had promised she would try to make it on time.

"Sorry," She declined politely. "But I already have plans with Sasha and-"

"Really?" Austin asked, looking sardonic. "That guy is your type?" 

Carly's jaw dropped. Rage simmered off of her like a- "First of all, I'm _not_ dating Sasha. Secondly, it's none of your business who my type is, Austin, because you barely know me."

"Sorry. I shouldn't have snapped. I just got jealous. I mean, you've noticed the thing we have, too, right?"

"...what?"

Austin smiled, and put one hand on her cheek. "I really, really like you, suds."

That _could've_ been cute, if he had actually said her name instead of 'suds' at the end. But Carly was too awestruck to care. There was someone who liked her? _Her_? Not Vee, not as a friend-- someone had a crush on her and they were telling her and it was Austin! 

"Really?" She asked, breathless. 

Austin nodded. "So you're not going to Sasha's house, right?"

The moment ended abruptly. 

"I'm going to Vanessa's house and Sasha will be there. It's just as friends, though, I promise!" Carly insisted. "Sasha is just a friend."

(She doesn't mention that once upon a time she nearly kissed Sasha and once upon a longer-ago time she had been crushing on her very own best friend, Vanessa. Carly wasn't sure why, but she promised herself that she would never tell Austin that because his reaction made her nervous.)

"Good." Austin responded. "I'll see you tomorrow, suds."

And with that, Austin was gone, and Carly was alone outside of the school. Thunder cracked overhead and rain began to pour, but Carly was frozen in place, still wondering what in the world had just happened.

She eventually left, not knowing that Cassandra had been just around the corner of the school, listening to their conversation with her eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not that big of a cliffie. Nobody even reads this story yet. amiright.
> 
> Shameless self-promotion | https://fanfinds.tumblr.com/


	2. Mean Girls, Texting, and Coffee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiccups = Nervous  
> Sneezing = Scared  
> Tugging on ear = Angry
> 
> (Sometimes, gosh dangit.)

"I told you she wouldn't be here," Vanessa complained. It was nearly six. 

"She's going to come." Sasha insisted, shoving another handful of popcorn into his mouth. "You know she never misses Thursday nights-- Mean Girls is like, her favorite movie ever." 

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "Sasha, that's _your_ favorite movie, not Carly's. And the rehearsal must've gone longer than she thought it would, because at this point, she's not coming over. Maybe she forgot."

_Ding-dong!_

Sasha jumped to his feet and clambered down the stairs, Vee on his heel. They swung open the front door to reveal a sopping wet Carly, standing out in the rain with her dance sweater and joggers over her leotard. It wasn't freezing, but the chilly water wouldn't warm her up any. 

"Hey," She said. "Sorry I'm late for Mean Girls."

Vanessa pulled her inside into a hug. "It's no problem, Cee. C'mon, there's lots of blankets upstairs with your name on them. Before you get pneumonia, hurry!"

Once they had all curled up together on the couch, Carly couldn't hold it in any longer. Sasha was just about to hit play when she blurted out:

"Do you guys know Austin?"

Sasha immediately spazzed out. "Austin _Taylor_? Keaton's number one heartbreaker?"

Carly paused. _Number one heartbreaker? Sasha has it wrong, because Austin is super nice. And he said he liked me!_

"I guess."

Vanessa looked at Carly in concern. "Why?"

"No reason!" Carly said quickly, although her voice had raised an octave and she had caught a 'sudden' case of hiccups.

Nobody pushed it, to her surprise. Even Sasha didn't know what to say, so they say in silence as the movie began. Everyone was so caught up in their own thoughts that they only started paying attention to Mean Girls halfway through.

\--

She managed to leave at nine, although she was too caught up with Austin to really listen to what they were talking about. They had asked her about it, but she waved it off and said she needed to get home before her parents freaked. They reluctantly let her go.

Hopefully her parents were home. They weren't home a lot. Vanessa said they were "workaholics", but Carly didn't think so. Sure, they both had hard jobs that required long hours, but during the hours that they could be home, they wanted to do things like go on dates, stuff like that. Carly wasn't sure that they had ever 'wanted' a kid, but they loved her anyway and she was grateful. She just had to be able to take care of herself.

"I'm home!" She called, stepping inside. There was no answer. 

Her first stop was the kitchen, where she snagged a ham sandwich in a plastic Ziploc bag labeled 'Carly'. It was a thing her mom did; whenever she hadn't seen her mom in a day or two because of long work hours, her mom would leave her snacks in bags with her name on it. It was kinda lame, but it made Carly happy and she knew that her mom felt better knowing that Carly had something to think about her. 

Plus, the sandwich was delicious. 

Then she walked downstairs to her room and set down her bag before-

_Bing!_

Text. Carly picked up her phone and looked at it. It was from an unknown number.

_Are you still with Sasha?_

That wasn't creepy at all! She frowned and replied. 

_Who is this?_

_Obviously its Austin_

Carly groaned. Oh course it was Austin- she hadn't told anyone else she would be with Sasha. Now Austin probably thought she was an idiot or something, this was so weird. 

_Sorry, and no I'm not with Sasha why?_

_It's ok suds I forgive you_

That didn't really answer her question, but Austin had forgiven her... for... not knowing it was him...? That was good, Carly decided. 

_Thanks! I'll see you tomorrow_

_goodnight <3_

Carly nearly dropped her phone. An emoji heart!? She- they- Austin! What! Beaming in joy at the prospect that someone had a crush on her, she charged in her phone and changed into her pyjamas before slipping into bed, reminding herself to wake up early so she could say goodbye to her parents before they left for work.

\--

"We're meeting at the coffeehouse at five, today, right?" Sasha asked. Carly nodded. "It'll be so fun. I'm going to bring extra money so I can get some of their pastries. They always have the best ones in town."

Sasha moaned. "Their pastries... are... amazing..."

Carly laughed. "Okay, it's a date. I mean- not like, a date date. But a date. Like, a-"

"I get it, Cee," Sasha said. 

\--

Carly was super excited for the coffeehouse. She would have to run there if she wanted to make it on time after the Primas rehearsal, but she knew she would be able to do it. Besides, what was a little running-on-a-hurting-ankle going to do for her dancing? Nothing, nothing at all. 

"You're not concentrating, recruit," Cassandra said. 

Carly snapped back to the practice room and jerked backwards. "Oh! Sorry." 

Cassandra pursed her lips. "I hope you took what I said yesterday seriously. Dancing comes before everything else if you want to be a Prima. I mean _everything_. Boys, friends, having a social life... dancing is always your number-one-priority."

"I took it seriously," Carly agreed. "And being a Prima means more than anything."

"Even the photography student who films us every day?" Cassandra asked. 

Wow, this girl got straight to the point. Was it that obvious that Carly liked Austin? She flushed and nodded her head. "Yes. Being a Prima means way more to me. I won't let anything or anyone get me off track."

Cassandra put a hand on the bar. "Okay. I won't hound you about it every day, I promise. I just need to make sure you're serious about this. Now everyone," Cassandra raised her voice so all of the Primas could hear. "Let's do it from the top!"

\--

When practice was over Carly rushed out to meet Sasha. Rain was pouring down again, dark clouds covering the sky. She managed to make it to the coffeehouse in eight minutes, but not without getting completely soaked. Shuddering with shivers, Carly walked inside and saw Sasha sitting in a booth by the window. 

"Oh my dance gods. Carly, you need an umbrella." 

She smiled sheepishly. "I can't find mine at home, so I've been running back and forth. I promise I'm fine, though, Sasha." 

Sasha finally gave into a grin and motioned to the barista. "Go order while the line is short."

Carly nodded and went up to order. 

"Can I help you?" The woman behind the counter said emotionlessly. Carly nodded. "I'll have an extra hot quad grande latte, with two sugars and no foam, please." She handed over the money and the woman went back to go make it. 

The bell rang behind her, singing that someone else had walked into the shop. 

"Suds?"

The dance student swung around. "Austin?" 

And there he was, standing with his camera bag, looking as perfect as ever. He smiled brightly when she said his name. "Hey, beautiful. I'm glad you're here, now we can talk about the film project coming up."

Carly bit her lip, thinking of a polite way to turn him down, but then the woman came back with her latte. 

"Thank you," She squeaked, taking it back and slowly walking towards Austin. It would be rude to just walk away. "Actually, I'm here with Sasha," Carly said. She wasn't sure why she was afraid of Austin's reaction. His face turned from a smile, to a glare, to an even brighter smile.

"Cool," He said. "I'll come join you guys."

Without warning, Austin was following Carly back to Sasha's booth, pushing her in, and then sitting down next to her. Sasha's eyes went wide as the other boy sat down. "Hey, who do you think you are-"

"Hey, whoa, man. Chill. Suds wants me to sit here."

Sasha narrowed his eyes. "No, she doesn't. I can tell. Leave."

Austin looked to Carly with huge eyes. "You want me to leave?" Sasha's lip curled in disgust. There was no way that Carly could say no without sounding like a jerk, with the way that Austin had phrased that. And it worked, apparently, because Carly looked completely mortified.

"No!" She quickly amended. "You can stay, I _want_ you to stay."

Austin nodded, seemingly satisfied, before turning towards Sasha. They glared at each other while Carly turned back to her phone and started ranting about how the coffeehouse across the street had better soy lattes. 

Sasha decided that he hated Austin.

\--

"And then, the asshole just sat down, and said that _Carly_ wanted him to sit there. And then when I said she didn't, he asked her. Austin asked her- right to her face-, if she wanted him to leave and Carly is super nice so obviously she said she wanted him to stay..."

"What a jerk," Vanessa said. "I hope Carly doesn't like him. He's the number one heart breaker in Keaton, and I don't want her getting hurt."

Sasha nodded venomously. "Exactly."

"What happened afterwards?" Vee asked after a pause. Sasha sighed. "It was super awkward and tense, then Carly had to go because her parents wanted her home for dinner. As soon as she left, Austin just got up and left. He never even bought anything."

"So why did he even come there in the first place?" Vanessa asked.

"I have no idea."


	3. Apologies, Proposals, and Praise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carly, Vanessa, Sasha, and Austin, plus lunch? (Uh oh!) The school dance is coming up. Cassandra is impressed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started another multi-chapter fic and God that was a mistake. I should never start more than one, especially with school like it is.

"Hi!" Sasha said when Carly walked up to him during lunch. "I haven't seen you all day!"

Carly smiled back. "I know, right. Where's Vee?"

"She'll be here soon. Anyway, how have you been? Is Cassandra still as awful as she was before? Is she going to kick you out? Do you still drink the green juice?" Carly held up the bottle of the juice and made a face. "Don't let any Primas hear this from me, but this stuff is disgusting."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Sasha mumbled. "What about Cassandra?"

"She's actually really nice," Carly said. "I mean, I've been working hard and she's constantly telling me not to get distracted, but she's been super helpful."

Sasha looked dubious, but before he could answer Austin walked over to the table they were at and sat down right next to Carly. Immediately Sasha's expression turned to loathing. 

"Hi, Austin!" Carly squeaked, breathless. He liked her, he liked her! Why else would he be sitting right next to her? After everything, too! And the text!

Austin nodded towards her. "Hey, beautiful." Sasha stiffened. "Wanna get out of here?" Sasha nearly choked on his food. Hell no, Austin was not taking Carly away during Lunch! Especially after that Coffee stunt!

"Actually, Carly and I were just talking," Sasha said angrily. Behind him, Vanessa was walking up cautiously and listening in.

"What's going on?"

Carly groaned. 

"I was just telling Austin that we were talking to Carly. Not _him_ ," Sasha relaxed in the slightest when Vanessa nodded. 

Why was everyone against Austin?

Carly narrowed her eyes, and opened her mouth to retort, but before she could, Austin cut her off. 

"Actually, I think Carly should make her own decisions. Some friends you are."

Carly nodded slowly. "Guys, I need to choose for myself."

Sasha crossed his arms, looking furiously at Austin, while Vanessa just looked worried. "Carly, we really do need to talk to you. Besides, the school dance is coming up and I wanted to ask you about the-"

"No!" Carly said suddenly. Why were they trying to embarrass her in front of Austin? That was so not cool! "I _want_ to go with Austin. You can't make me stay. I'll talk to you guys later."

She stood up, taking her lunch with her, and started following Austin to the next lunch table. "That was really mean..." She whispered to him. Austin nodded. "Yeah, those guys are jerks."

"No, I meant what I said!" Carly said regretfully. "I didn't mean it."

Austin's smile dropped. "Look, suds. They needed to hear it. You want to sit with me from now on and they are trying to control you. That's not how real friends behave."

Carly shifted her weight. When had she said that she wanted to sit with Austin _from now on_? 

"I guess." She mumbled, glancing back at Sasha and Vanessa, who were still staring at her.

Austin grabbed her arm and gently but firmly pulled her to the table with his group of friends. She reluctantly sat down and smiled warily at his friends. 

"Lookin' hot, Hannah," Austin said to one of his other friends. She had red hair and she was wearing a silky pink top. She did look very pretty. 

Wait! What?!

Carly's brow shot up at the implication. Did Austin not really like her? He was just super obvious about flirting with this Hannah girl, but maybe they just acted that way as friends? Carly's head was spinning.

She glanced to the other table.

Vanessa and Sasha looked frustrated.

 

\--

 

"Someone has to talk her out of this one," Sasha said glumly. He and Vanessa were hanging up the Keaton Dance posters while Carly was working with the Primas. It wasn't going well, after lunch.

"I thought you might be over exaggerating," Vanessa admitted, "but that was seriously weird. He was making choices for her, not us."

They sighed simultaneously. 

"So, about the dance," Sasha said, changing the subject. "Who are you going with?"

Vanessa stayed quiet for a long time. She had no idea who would want to go with her.

"Maybe... Ah, um..."

Sasha nodded. "Good; you have nobody to go with either. Will you go with me? Now that Carly is obviously going with Austin and the dance is coming up, the pressure is on. We can just go as friends, obviously, but I'm hoping that it'll let Carly see what she's missing."

"That's a little manipulative," Vanessa objected.

"And Austin _isn't_?"

"I'm just saying we shouldn't be anything like him. That way, when Carly realizes what a terrible guy he is, she won't think that we've been doing the same thing to her all along."

Sasha nodded in agreement. "Okay. Fine. By the way, the colors are purple and grayscale so don't even think about wearing red."

Vanessa rolled her eyes.

 

\--

Carly wasn't about to let her crush/friend-drama get in the way of her dancing, though. Especially with Cassandra acting so strict. She had already kicked out and replaced three Prima dancers, and Carly really didn't want to become one of them. 

So during her part of the dance, she made sure to kick her heels up higher, and straighten her back more, and fall without hesitation into another Prima's arms. Being a dancer required trust. It required trusting your fellow dancers to catch you, to spin you, to make the right moves so you both do well. 

The music changed key and Carly knew it was time to fall back into Ida's arms. And- and- and! 

She tilted backwards, closing her eyes, spreading her arms out like wings, and felt the gust of wind and the stomach-drop before Ida caught her and set her down. Without skipping a beat, Carly got right back into the music and finished in front.

Cassandra was watching from the sidelines and she nodded, smiling.

"Better. Much better, everyone. Make sure to twist more on the landing, though, Alex. And Erika, you could use more height. Otherwise, you're all good to go. See you next week!"

Oh- right. Carly had almost forgotten it was Friday. 

She was taking off her shoes and rubbing sore ankles when Cassandra walked up to her and lightly touched her arm. "Good work today, Catto. I mean it."

"Are you going to tell me to make sure I don't let personal life get in the way of dancing?" Carly joked lightly. 

Cassandra shrugged. "No. I can see that whatever is going on elsewhere, it isn't effecting how well you're doing. But some other dancers are falling behind, so I'm switching your position to the lead: you're the swan. Tiffany isn't up for the expectations."

She had lead? Carly felt like she couldn't breathe!

"Oh my god... thank you," She stuttered out. "I promise I won't let you down."

Cassandra nodded. "Good."

She looked like she had more to say, but then she snapped her mouth shut and walked off to change. Carly blinked before turning back to her shoes happily. She got the lead! This would be so great to tell Vanes-

Oh.

Were they fighting? She could talk to them still, right? Just not at lunch...?

Carly was so confused. She decided she'd ask Austin what he thought she should do. He seemed to know what was best for her.

**Author's Note:**

> Shameless self-promotion | https://fanfinds.tumblr.com/


End file.
